Category: Blog

Motivating people can all be done through positive reinforcement.

We have to understand the time commitments and the motivation of all, but how can we get driven individuals to spare 30 minutes to pay attention to you and really soak in what you say? Is it worth it? To some, no. Most people join an organization or a team knowing they have to do just anything, but how can we guide them to join an organization or a team and do something that not only we want them to do but they themselves want to do? We say we are a team – a family even – but if you pay attention to your verbiage and tone, it may certainly not mean that at all even though deep down you do. Maybe it was a “Get this done or we won’t care about you.” The better way is “We need to support each other as a team, and that means everyone.” You will want to contribute and do it for not only for yourself but also for everyone. One of my professors at Boston University taught me, “It isn’t about what you say but it’s all about what they hear.” As a leader, business professional, and even as a person, you can change any outcome with your storytelling.

Many aspiring young leaders, such as myself, fall into the trap of leading people as if they need to follow the footsteps of their successful older sibling by showing an example and paving the way. You are seeing them as what they could be, not what they are. “Look at your older sister!” Consider that maybe some people simply do not care what we are doing. We are all still children deep inside, easily moved and swayed by cajoling words. Make them fall in love with your story and work for a united cause. How can they pave their own roads while still following your direction?

Being in a startup-minded business fraternity, I have fallen into the trap of working so hard that I forgot to see what others truly think. As a leader, I learned that it all starts with the people.

We need to revisit our roots and see what we stand for: Everything we say and do must reflect our brand, story, values, and vision. What did you do when your team has lost its way but found itself back on track? Of if you have lost your way, what are you planning to do?

I always lived my life living the life I would have in five, ten, twenty, and sometimes thirty years. I always like to plan everything that comes my way, so I know what to expect, and so I can mentally prepare myself into a progression.However, in some ways, it actually impairs me into regression.

I grew up wanting to be a novelist,screenwriter, graphic designer, CPA, CEO, film director, film producer, psychologist, psychiatrist, computer scientist, software engineer, web developer, advertising manager, teacher, president, business owner, social entrepreneur, and the list goes on and on. Despite the diverse and overflowing list of jobs I wanted to occupy, for each job or career, I meticulously schedule each step and evaluate what I need to do to reach that goal. For every job I worked towards, I honed down the skills and knowledge needed for those jobs, and oftentimes, doing this helps me see the world in a way someone who is on a single track would not.

I wouldn’t say I’m bragging about how I think, but I have seen everything through different perspectives because with the skills and knowledge one would attain, those perspectives are channeled within one’s decision-making. I often make many questions – albeit only some are critical – because I love to learn more and more about how something happened, why it happened, what could have happened, what went wrong, what could be better, and such. This curiosity usually makes me hunt for what I want: an answer – a solution. I would say that I am always dissatisfied with where I am and I want to advance and see something I haven’t yet seen before, so that curiosity usually runs wild to find the answer I am looking for to see as an opportunity. That opportunity makes me excited that I am off to a path with a lot of potential.

Nonetheless, that was exactly what I came to realize just two days ago. In my years of high school, I knew I wanted to be a corporate lawyer, and a JD/MBA dual degree is recommended to become a corporate lawyer to be a master of the law and a master of the business. I was so driven to become a corporate lawyer, but deep inside, I knew that, despite all of my internships in the legal, corporate, retail, and entrepreneurial world, I knew I was not about the life where I am locked down to an office crunching numbers and analyzing financial statements like an accountant, but seeing people face-to-face and helping them. But is that really enough? Do I really like to the tediousness that legal work entails? I was told that I have a good direction, a good head, a good mind for strategy, but can I actually sit down and win a bloody war where my wins equate to my salary?

The answer is no. I realize that some cases are all about being in the right because being in the wrong just makes it a whole lot harder to fight and win. If the fight went down and the opposing side came out victorious, you not only lost all that time and energy, but you also receive no money from that case. I like to work as much as I can and make it work with my own hands. With something I can control – myself. I am very logically driven, and I try not to involve my personal feelings into any professional or business matters. That is the case. I do not believe, despite the logic affiliated with the issue at hand, sometimes the law makes it so much more difficult to fight against because that is the law that governs us. I would rather be in a world that involves law than in the world of law.

And that’s where I thought of becoming a finance and international management concentrator. I was always into international business, cultures, languages, and the relations between the countries. My fascination in Japanese and Korean language and culture as well as my interactions with friends in London, Manchester, Madrid, Singapore, Sydney, and Toronto all teased me to learn more and more about their languages and cultures. This is all to the extent where I would want to work a job (or live a career) flying to new countries to meet new people and expose myself to culture-rich settings that kick the innovative and entrepreneurial spirit within me. Also interested in finance because of how money works in our system fascinated me on strategies and methods we can use to plan for a project or venture through financing. However, that itself was not enough.

Being involved in Positive Culture through the operational side of a business that involves supply chain management opened my eyes to examples in business where the inception of an idea ended with a product or service handed off to a consumer. The satisfaction of following through and seeing a result appeared to be very rewarding the no-pain no-gain workaholic I am. My mother is also involved in operations regarding the imports and exports of the supply chain management. Operations also is the field of not only planning but also doing what was planned. The obsession of mine to carry out what I thought really shown value to me through this business discipline. I saw myself in operations and finance at the end of the day along with international management.

For the international business enthusiast, studying abroad is on the bucket list. For the ambitious business student, learning a new language is on the bucket list. To prove myself that I am not taking the easy way out, I chose to learn Korean and study abroad in Korea with a triple concentration in finance, operations, and international management. Nevertheless, a realization dawned on me when I met more and more Koreans and analyzed industry trends only to see that there is not much value in business in South Korea. I also realized that international management would be taking so much of my time and energy taking three classes that can just be taught on- the-go through multinational companies. Boston University itself is a very international school, and that exposure can really go a long way.

I reevaluated the study abroad options at Boston University School of Management – without international management. I could go to London, Sydney, Dublin, or Copenhagen that did not require learning a new language. I have already attended and now attending another Korean classes, but after my four-year plan, I will be able to reevaluate to see what is my next step. I came to realize that despite living and hoping to study abroad for a semester through the three years of planning I have done to execute my goal, I have lost sight of what works and what doesn’t work. This international management concentration would have worked in Korea, but would I personally thrive and find more value in that option?

It was two days ago when I did not reject what my inner-gut feelings was telling me. It was telling me to find more value in my education here at Boston University. After really analyzing all my options presented during the Futures and Options fair featuring all panels for the concentrations and of school clubs, these would help me find out what works for me and what doesn’t, but I was between management information systems, finance, operations, and the concentration has been developed in time, strategy. In the end, I might end up studying finance, operations and law/strategy. That is, if strategy is developed in time for concentration courses fulfillment.

I learned that despite planning everything I have thought myself to be, despite diversifying your skill set and portfolio of knowledge, can push you back to regression. Constantly needing to research industry trends and your own habits can greatly benefit you finding what clicks with you and what doesn’t.

It isn’t just about what you want to do and what you need to do to live.

It’s really how you want to live your life and your dreams.

NOTE: As of October 2015, Questrom School of Business offers a Strategy and Innovation concentration. I am now a finance, management information systems, and strategy and innovation concentrator.

(3.5.15)

Can you imagine a world where the word “weekends” wasn’t even part of our vocabulary? Or safety? Or health care and retirement benefits? I can’t. Mothers would not be able to be mothers and take care of their young. Fathers would not be able to be fathers to come home and eat a meal with their families. Children would not be able to be children and to go out to playgrounds with their friends and have fun and just be… children. People would go to work not thinking, “I wonder if little Johnny is making friends at soccer practice?” but “Can I make it out alive tonight?” In fact, they might not even have time to eat dinner – or even lunch – for that matter.

In 1911, the tragic Triangle Shirt Waist Factory fire incident killed more than 100 immigrant women – both young and old. What did the women ever do to deserve it? They didn’t. The fire incident brought light to the working conditions of workers everywhere, and unions strived to alleviate those issues, and the unions did; the labor force now does not need to have safety at the forefront of their minds. Today’s unions are not focusing on unsafe working conditions but on job security and economic stability. The union exists to protect its members against gender equality and racial discrimination. Unions are currently working towards wage equality. For every dollar in a white man’s paycheck, a woman would earn approximately 77 cents in the United States according to Forbes.com. Lisa Maatz, the policy director at the American Association of University Women says, “Unions have always been very good for women in terms of getting their wages and benefits up to par.” It is the unions that help improve this gender wage gap, and they are still working hard to make that gap disappear. For every dollar in a white man’s paycheck, 23 cents are lost in a woman’s paycheck. As the paychecks stack up, the 23 cents will lead to thousands of dollars. To put it into perspective, when a white man earns 100,000 dollars on an annual paycheck, the woman would have earned just a mere 77,000 dollars. That is a total of 23,000 dollars! Those 23,000 dollars could have been used towards children’s education, family meals, basic necessities and even on vacation days that every person in the labor force earns for working hard and diligently. Now consider the following: Women would not even have the opportunity of earning the 77,000 dollars to begin with if not for the Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972. And who pushed for it? That’s right: Unions.

Unions have improved the welfare of American citizens in more ways than one. They pushed for higher minimum wages, shorter work weeks and hours, and sexual harassment laws to name a few. Unions have improved the quality of life for many – for everyone, not just union members. Can you imagine a life where you wake up and ask yourself why you are working when there isn’t a good payoff to expect? Or why you can’t see little Johnny’s soccer game against his team’s number one rival? Or why you have to balance between work and health rather than work and leisure? Unions exist for one reason and one reason only: to serve the people – to serve us – for a better life and better welfare.

NOTE: This was my scholarship essay for the Amalgamated Transit Union.

One day in March 2013, I looked up the winners of the 2013 Scholastic Writing and Arts contest. Flabbergasted, I saw that I had won an award for every poem I had entered: one gold key, one silver key, and three honorable mentions. I didn’t believe it then, but becoming the editor-in-chief of Exit 33 made me realize that I have gotten this far. After numerous years developing my writing, I had finally learned how to express myself eloquently and effectively.

However, before these achievements, my writing was a mess, riddled with mechanical errors. I was known for being a quick learner, but I never knew being one would end up working against me. The problems may have arisen from my home environment. Even though we did not speak much Cantonese at home, my English-speaking habits – stuttering and mispronouncing –  reflected those of my native Chinese mother and my Chinese-American “Mr. Broken English” father. The problem got worse because I wrote the way I spoke, and since my speaking was already sub-par, you can imagine what my writing would be: disastrous. While my elementary school classmates were doing worksheets, I was sitting at the back of the classroom for special “writing lessons.” Nevertheless, what really helped me improve happened in the summer of fifth grade. I read books.

Watching the movie The Princess Diaries that summer became the pivotal moment because I then read the book series the movie was based on. The books were so engaging that I began to read more and more books to keep a hold of the thrill of reading. I was the girl that held many binders and carried many more books to class; I was also the girl who read in class, got the book confiscated, took out a second book, and got that book confiscated. The cycle went on and on – daily. Book after book and day after day, my writing and my speaking dramatically improved from the new writing skills I have attained.

But it had no voice. Before junior year, my essays were soulless and bare, but it was my eleventh grade English teacher, Mr. Weinstein, that helped me discover the voice I lacked. Before Mr. Weinstein, I thought I could express myself only through poems and not in anything else. As a high school underclassman, I had been conscious only of my grades. I walked in thinking “I must do well on this essay.” After having Mr. Weinstein, that mindset changed; it became “I have the skills, the ideas, and the experience. I will do well my way and my way only.” It was then when I would proceed to write with my voice, not with a strained and phony voice of “high esteem.” Now, the grades are not my main concern. Prior to the eleventh grade, I would get my essay back and stash it in my English binder forever, but it was different in his class. I looked at my essays, and three questions would pop up. How am I improving? Did I do the best I could do? What do I need to do to improve? They were all about the writing and self-improvement, not the grade.

Mr. Weinstein also taught me to “bleed on paper.” After doing just that, I was able to be free – to be me. I was able to be me and to thoroughly enjoy writing in-class essays instead of focusing more on the grades. Yes, there is always that anxiety of having our in-class essays inevitably determining the grade for the quarter, but in the end, only I can be the best at being me, so I proved it – through my writing.

Writing helped me discover who I am. It helped me acknowledge my beginnings, recognize my capabilities, redirect my energies, and express my thoughts and feelings. Because of writing, I have come this far…

…and I’m so damn proud of it.

NOTE: This is my college essay for the Common Application and Gold Recipient of Scholastic Art and Writing Competition Northeast Region.

(10.1.13)

Nervous.

I was nervous once I walked in.

The cubicles were in the middle, the phones were off the hook and the whole scene was just too overwhelming. It was very intimidating at first glance, but at the same time, I was nervous.

Little did I know that I would get used to environment in as little as two weeks.

My heart would pound whenever I hear the phone ring, and I wonder, as I pick up the calls, if the other side can hear my heart beat. Before I came to the internship on my first day, my ears were hot and red and my cheeks were flushed with a dangerous scarlet color. As Mr. Jim Kiley gave me a tour of the law firm, each step made me aware of my surroundings. “This is where a lawyer works in… do I have to sit in those chairs every second, minute, hour and day?” The seats looked awfully uncomfortable.

However, during the first day of the internship, I was already experiencing my first bank closing. As Mr. Thomas Jaffa guided me through each itty-bitty step of a bank closing, I was thrilled to see the interesting process.

Even though it might seem like a long, winded and boring process to everyone, I was personally very surprised at how many steps were taken just to ensure that the person meant to sign the papers was actually the person signing it in real time. I was really taken aback by the detailed and very well thought-out processes that were taken. It must have been the ways in which my mind likes to crack down every tiny little hole that can let something go wrong. Whenever I plan an event or system for Exit 33, the school literary magazine, as the editor, or for Global Angels, a charitable club in school, as the events coordinator, I was always told to “calm down” and relax because the members think nothing will go wrong.

However, my mind doesn’t work like that; I’m not a person who would worry about every single aspect of life, but I just like to be thorough in everything I do since I can’t stand seeing many bright doors, metaphorically in my mind, open for a great opportunity that is about to fly out of our reach. Many successful ventures lead to greater opportunities. I am a woman who takes a grab out of opportunities. I not only run towards them, but I soar through the skies like a pigeon that finds New York City as a boring place for him, so he explores the stars.

The tedious process a lawyer needs to take with proper care of the client really appealed to me. It was just a great way for my mind to release the stress of being held back, and allow me to control the outcome. It does not take the “let’s see how it goes” kind of mindset, but I believe that if you have all of the information from your research and ask all of the right people for favors, you can achieve anything in the world. This belief is shown throughout all of my newspaper articles for The Southerner. The editors-in-chief always commend me for great job fact-finding and researching, so I thought that I could use this skill and mindset of mine that requires a well thought-out plan build on from extensive research and contributions.

Although there were many ways you can go with that desire, there were very few that go with my areas of interest. I would go for areas of history, linguistics and business, so I proposed a job that required skills needed for all those industries. A lawyer.

Movies portray a lawyer as someone who freely sues people just for the money and not for the clients’ considerations, but after interning at a law firm, I saw that it was not as it seems. Even though it might just be the firm I am interning at where three brothers work together as lawyers, it provided a warm and comfortable atmosphere after I tossed away my nervousness. Everyone was talking to each other about children’s college admissions, or romantic relationships, or a child’s basketball game, or even a discussion on India since the receptionist wanted to go study abroad.

This small law firm made this happen. It was what made me see how relationships between colleagues are very independent, even in jobs when you do not have any colleagues. The only thing I regretted during this internship was to talk more to the people who worked there. Yes, it is critical to gather work experience, but the interaction between colleagues is also very crucial since it brings the life into the dreary atmosphere created by the shelves of books and cubicles.

Even though I fancied the idea of entrepreneurship before interning at the law firm, I began to like both sides as equals. Being a lawyer values clients and goes to far extents to get the client to win the case since the money is necessary to repay for the client’s loss. Despite the fact that lawyers take a percentage (usually 20 to 40%) of the money, they actually care for the clients. This was the environment I wanted to work in. I can totally see my future as a lawyer as clear as a view from the top of Empire State building, disregarding the clouds of course.

Nevertheless, during my time at the internship, there was always one thing that haunted me.

The phones.

On my first day when I saw the receptionist’s desk that day, I was dumbstruck by all of the buttons on the phone that directed calls. “What does the ‘feature’ button do?” Of course, I was too scared to use it, but my curiosity ran wild when setting my eyes upon this enigma.

I never touched the phone after the second week of my internship. I just could not handle the pressure of having someone from the other side repeat himself or herself because I would get the feeling that I have failed and I am incompetent. Face-to-face works well for me, but when I cannot analyze one’s facial features, I am unable to read the other person’s thoughts. I usually control what I say or the manner I bring up my concerns judging by a person’s facial expression, but through the phone is very hard to converse through.

However, one day last year, Exit 33 that meets on Tuesdays was deciding what to do for the school assembly in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Since I leave early for my internship at 3:15 PM every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, I was left out in the decision of who would want to participate in the recitation of two famous poems.

During journalism class the day after, my friend, also a member of Exit 33, told me that the members volunteered me.

I took on the challenge, knowing that I will have to deal with it for every interview for colleges and jobs and for the presentation, I have to make for the judge at DECA states competition in my Entrepreneurship Written Event.

I took a stab at it.

The day came, and the two other girls were there, who were participating with me (a girl was in the previous act, so only three were together backstage when she was performing). I was extremely nervous. It was my first time to be in front of over a thousand students with spotlights right on us. I could not see the audience’s faces due to the light, but I confidently enunciated every word clearly and loudly due to one of the girls’ help: Sara Gottlieb. She is into theatre, so she taught me how she projects her voice out to the audience and gets over her nervousness. She became a totally different person when she’s on stage.

And, on January 17, I picked up the phone, willingly, to answer the call.

I passed with flying colors.

My fears ended, but it was sad how I only had two days left… and those two days, the receptionist was there. Every Wednesday and Thursday I was at my internship, the receptionist was in. Tuesdays were the only days without one.

I really treasured this experience and this might even be the rough draft of my college essay.* Who knows?

I would really like to thank all of the people I met at my internship. They made the experience so much better and I could not thank them even more. With my wish-washy decision to become a lawyer, this internship helped me become more confident and stand up.

I can see my future unravel like a panorama.

Background information: I had an internship every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday after school 3:30 to 5:30. It later became 3:30 to 6:50, but the day I wrote this was the last day of my internship… My internship was at a law firm (Kiley, Kiley& Kiley, PLLC). Ms. Kinsey, the internship coordinator of our school, gives interns assignments every week as homework, but this last reflection is done at the end of the internship. (I made it into a memoir instead.)

*It did not. Please refer to The Identity in My Pen

(10.19.12)